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Quora finally introduces full-text search to boost content discovery

Social Q&A site Quora has finally introduced full-text search in a move that will improve content discovery and is likely to be much welcomed by anyone who has ever used the service.

A company blog post confirmed that the improved Quora search engine will no longer require users to go to individual pages one by one to view results. Now Google-like searches for keywords will bring up a range of results.

Enter any keyword into the search bar and previews of questions, answers, posts, reviews, and more will show up in the search results so you can more easily find what you are looking for. The new search results page has all the most relevant content on Quora about what you’re interested in, aggregated for easy reading in one place.

The new search also allows users to go direct to Quora users, topics, and blogs that they follow directly from the search bar. Quora says that the changes are designed to improve discovery and help better share content among its community. Speaking as a regular user, this makes a lot of sense and has been a long time coming.

While it doesn’t charge users to access content, Quora has come under some pressure for forcing visitors to register in order to get full access to all answers. Earlier this year, it responded to criticism by relaxing its stance somewhat by introducing new ways to view content without being a member. It emphasized that its content wall is to promote sign-ups not generate cash.